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Queen Bee Knight -- Thank you! Please read the new post

JeffTibbetts

Posted 27 February 2014 - 10:18 PM

JeffTibbetts

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Chapter Name: Eagle Eyes

Okay, I'm starting this thread to collect some fluff and prep work for now, to be filled in with the actual WIP on my Imperial Knight that I will be building. I'm really excited about this project because it's giving me all kinds of license to try new techniques and explore new ideas that my Eagle Eyes don't afford me.

For starters, here's the logo I'm working up for his personal heraldry.

This will be combined with the Tibbetts family crest, which features three azure cats passant on an ermine field. The blue will be complementary to the gold here.

And here's a quick mockup of the color scheme. I apologize for the crappy color on it, as I was having a tough time with the Photoshop color replacement tool.

My overall ideas are many. I'll try to break it down here:

I want to do a halved scheme. Gold/Yellow on his right (our left), with a modern simplicity, and add a very subtle honeycomb effect behind the yellow with an airbrush. This is his personal side, as a Freeblade, and is where he expresses himself. The other side will be a dark gray/black, and will have Victorian floral scroll accenting it to represent tradition and his link back to the family, as well as family symbols like the cats passant. I'll probably split his left leg like the official GW patterns and put the coat of arms down there as well. I would love to experiment with doing the floral pattern in a gloss black, so that it's (again) very subtle and pops more texturally than color contrast. Think of the books you get with a matte finish, and a gloss pattern highlighted on the front. Also, for the trim, I want to do a nice shiny buffed brass, with deep blue/green corrosion and patina, as the brass will look great on the black side, while the patina will offer a nice contrast with the gold side.

I want to add a pinup girl on there, because part of his fluff will include a pilot with a very amorous nature, including a love interest with a native girl from Tonatzin, where my chapter is based.

I'm also going to town with weathering and battle damage on this bad boy. For personal reasons, I have wanted to do rust and damage for ages, but I love clean marines and I don't want to start a second army. This model gives me the chance to do it, and there's enough to work with that I think it will still look awesome with a fair amount of crud mucking it up.

I do plan to repose and magnetize this dude. I want his black leg up, crushing something (working on getting bits) and I want to use the base to add some narrative scenery. His marine allies (click the sig link below to see them) have burned ash village bases, and this larger base gives me a chance to add part of a ruined building and maybe even a cowering civilian behind a half wall. It's just fun, but it also lets me keep telling the story I've been building with my main army.

I do plan to do a fair amount of customization to the machine as well. I think the lattice-work torso would be a great spot to add little touches to make this machine feel old/lived in. I'm thinking a couple cracked areas, reinforced with bolted on splints, maybe a fetish hanging on some rope tied around a beam, heck I even thought about adding a tiny bird's nest (or bee hive, but that's too much theme) would be funny for anyone who cared to look close enough to look. On top of that, I plan to wrap a few rags/duct tape-looking patches around some of the cables and wires bopping around this beast.

The scale of the model opens up all sorts of opportunities for super-detailing and really just going all-out of it. I can't wait to get my hands on it and really start telling a story. Keep an eye on this space and keep my honest. I want to take my time and actually do all the things I have planned, instead of rushing into it so I can throw it in a game. I will only be buying one of them, and it's probably as close as I'm ever getting to painting anything besides green and red unless I win the lottery.

Honda

Posted 27 February 2014 - 10:26 PM

Honda

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Wow, a lot of work and we don't even have a model yet.

I like your whole concept and working in a family crest is an awesome idea. May it be the first of many. The only part that doesn't blow up my kilt is the copper/bronze color of the metallics. I don't think it's working.

Have you tried a dark iron...thinking on that, there may be problems with the black. I don't know, maybe silver, but the metal right now doesn't look right to me for some reason.

"All those rumors about us being intolerant and stubborn really just evolved from our history. We're actually just a fun bunch of guys who enjoy burning witches" - Anon

JeffTibbetts

Posted 27 February 2014 - 11:03 PM

JeffTibbetts

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Location:Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Chapter Name: Eagle Eyes

Thanks for all the quick comments!

@Honda, the one in the pic is straight off the GW model. I didn't even try to mess with it in the mock up. The color I'm shooting for will be much less red, and much cooler in general. Think of old brass statues and you're on the right track. The problem with the silver is that it looks terrible on the yellow side. I did think about a blued steel color, but there's no way to work it on both sides. That's why I was really happy when I thought about a heavily corroded brass, since the blue green will look awesome on the yellow side.

@Absolute, yeah. Those are, of course, lions gardant (facing the viewer). My crest is very specifically cats passant (facing left, no mane). It's a subtle distinction, I know. My actual crest is from a Tibbetts line that's been recorded in honor rolls from ages ago in England. While there were Tibbetts's all over (with various spelling treatments), Henry Tibbetts, the oldest of my line in America, came from Stratford upon Avon. I'm aware that it's pretty dang close, yeah, but I'm alright with that. Not much I can do about it anyway. We don't get to pick our family, unfortunately.

As for Bumblebee? Yeah, not on purpose. I love transformers, but I'm hoping that the halved scheme and obvious OTHER bee logo will lead people away from that. I planned on using the same tilting helmet in the pic. It's my favorite. I'm considering making the visor hinged so you can turn it up, but that's even more like Bumblebee, so maybe I shouldn't.

Xenith

Posted 28 February 2014 - 12:28 AM

Think of old brass statues and you're on the right track. The problem with the silver is that it looks terrible on the yellow side.

Exactly, tnd that's one of the issues I have with the otherwise great scheme:

Heraldically, yellow and gold are the same, and white and silver are the same, for those that couldnt afford actual metallics.

Your heraldry would have one metal colour, but not two. In my opinion, that white and the yellow just do not go together, much like your silver and yellow. They clash too much.

I believe you may be able to put the shield on the left (black) hand side, which may solve the problem, or look at having a thick black border around the white tibbett crest. Or paint the crest onto the black shoulderpad.

Consider echoing the bee insignia on the black side, but in yellow. That would be cool.

JeffTibbetts

Posted 28 February 2014 - 02:23 AM

Think of old brass statues and you're on the right track. The problem with the silver is that it looks terrible on the yellow side.

Exactly, tnd that's one of the issues I have with the otherwise great scheme:Heraldically, yellow and gold are the same, and white and silver are the same, for those that couldnt afford actual metallics.Your heraldry would have one metal colour, but not two. In my opinion, that white and the yellow just do not go together, much like your silver and yellow. They clash too much.I believe you may be able to put the shield on the left (black) hand side, which may solve the problem, or look at having a thick black border around the white tibbett crest. Or paint the crest onto the black shoulderpad.Consider echoing the bee insignia on the black side, but in yellow. That would be cool.

I do see your point, yeah... I think maybe a border to make it pop would help. I guess I had better figure out the metal in Photoshop after all.

JeffTibbetts

Posted 28 February 2014 - 03:56 AM

JeffTibbetts

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Location:Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Chapter Name: Eagle Eyes

Those pics are from AngelsAbsolute. I almost laughed out loud when I saw them too.

Okay, I think I'm changing up the name to Queen Bee instead of killer bee. You ever notice that men of war who form a close connection with their machines (also sailors & boats) refer to them with female terms? Along with the pinup nose art, this mighty knight is now a lady.

JeffTibbetts

Posted 28 February 2014 - 05:04 PM

@Xenith, yeah, that's the idea. Do you remember where you saw one? I still need to get one. I know I can order online.

@Excessus, I see what you're saying. Yeah, the head and the arms were suggested to me from someone else to help sell the scheme. I'm still not 100 percent about it. I'm thinking I may reverse the gold and black yet still, and may or may not swap the head and weapons. Mentally, I think I favor a pure halved scheme but I think their point was a good one too. I wish we had a B&C style army painter. I'm handy in Photoshop, but that is time consuming work and never looks great with a model so persnickety.

helterskelter

Posted 28 February 2014 - 08:56 PM

helterskelter

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Im on a beekeeping course, going to keep the little blighters on my allotment, just one hive initially, to get honey and make mead for my wolf friends. So yeah, amateur apiarist. Now will the delivery gods all haste! Don't they know you have a knight to build?!

JeffTibbetts

Posted 28 February 2014 - 09:31 PM

JeffTibbetts

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Location:Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Chapter Name: Eagle Eyes

Haha. That's really cool. You should call your little queen Tibbs. It's a good pet name. Artisan honey is worth a lot of money. I love that stuff. I've always thought that would be a really cool hobby, but what an investment. I've had some homemade mead that my brother made and it was tasty, tasty stuff. A word of caution: I'm sure you're already aware but it's tough to ferment. Takes a long time and can spoil much easier than some other home fermented stuff.

Okay, back on topic: If you watch White Dwarf Daily, they posted a video for assembly. I really love the way these beasts look without their armor plates. That whole network around the torso is just so rife with potential for adding little details. It looks like a jungle gym and I can imagine the pilot climbing around in there, sitting on the beams, scrimshawing artwork or the names of the machines' victories, etc. Maybe that's where the various pilots throughout the years add messages for their successors. Can you imagine the lineage of these war machines?